


Giving and Receiving

by ReluctantlyGreyhound



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Belly Rubs, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Presents, Daddy Kink, Denisteph, Implied D/s, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, deniss has attachment issues, egregious appreciation of stéphane's hands, hate that steniss is the actual ship name for this pairing, i may have fudged with the irl timeline a bit in service to the story, it's not really explicit but the undertones are definitely there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 22:23:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17150171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReluctantlyGreyhound/pseuds/ReluctantlyGreyhound
Summary: Deniss is depressed when Stéphane has to stay with Koshiro at Japanese Nationals over Christmas, but could things turn out better than he expects? Alternatively: Deniss has attachment issues and needs to be with his daddy but it's all good.





	Giving and Receiving

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thedarknesswithin (babylxxrry)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/babylxxrry/gifts).



> Christmas present for thedarknesswithin :3

Stéphane rubs his big hands over Deniss’s back again and Deniss shivers softly, eyelids fluttering shut.  

He hangs on to this feeling: Steph's warmth surrounding him and holding him, smoothing his edges. He holds onto it for when it’s gone. 

“Here we go,” Stéphane says, still rubbing, “Last time, deep breath in, let me feel your back expand.” He places both hands solidly over Deniss’s shoulder blades and presses firmly. “Right here, darling, let me feel it. Deep breath.” 

Deniss obediently breathes in, filling his lungs and pressing back against Stéphane’s arms behind him. He wants to be closer; he can never be close enough to Steph, but now he’ll be missing this warmth for days all alone and just... 

He feels more than hears Stéphane lean in to nuzzle his ear and murmur, “Shh, shh, baby boy, relax... Relax... I’ve got you.”  

Deniss holds his breath tightly, poised with Stéphane’s warm breath fluttering against his neck. 

“Now breathe out. Let it all out, that’s it,” Stéphane says in his quiet voice, accompanied by strong, lean fingers pushing and kneading at his bunched-up shoulders. 

Deniss breathes out, diaphragm and lungs collapsing as he deflates, relaxing back into Stéphane’s embrace now. 

He feels Steph’s chest expand and contract against his back. Steady, even breathing. Constant heartbeat. Everything is warm.  

“My beautiful boy...” Stéphane says quietly and kisses the back of his head. Deniss has gotten taller; tall enough so that Stéphane can’t reach the top of his head for kissing when they’re sitting down together. But he wishes he was still smaller. So, when Steph wraps his arms over Deniss’s chest, he leans his head back onto Steph’s shoulder and nuzzles his face into his neck. 

“My beautiful boy,” Stéphane says again, and Deniss can hear the warm and affectionate smile in his voice. He makes a noise that’s not quite a sigh and not quite a whine, and nuzzles closer. Steph squeezes his arms tighter and tucks his chin over the top of Deniss’s head. “Je t’aime, mon coeur,” he whispers, almost fiercely, “Je t’aime.” 

“Je t’aime aussi,” Deniss mumbles back, the first words he’s spoken in some time. He’s not allowed to speak when Stéphane is relaxing him, because he’s prone to get distracted and go off on tangents and then he has to get up and demonstrate what it is he’s talking about and the movements or philosophy or thought process behind it and the whole point of trying to relax is defeated, which Stéphane will not allow. So, he just feels and listens and breathes and lets Stéphane take care of him. 

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Stéphane says from above, “No coughing this time, that’s an improvement!” He rubs Deniss’s stomach with slow, soothing circles. Deniss can hear the smile again. 

He smiles as well and nuzzles at Steph’s neck drowsily. “Well, thanks to you, of course.” 

He feels Steph laugh softly. “No, no, I refuse to take all the credit.” 

“Well, withdrawing from Golden Spin was your advice,” Deniss says bashfully and snuggles tighter against Stéphane’s chest, “Probably wouldn’t have done it otherwise.” 

“Mon cher-” Stéphane nudges the top of Deniss’s head with his chin gently. “Give yourself some credit. S'il vous plaît.” 

“It’s your fault anyway,” Deniss mutters, “I was only sick with jealousy.”  

It’s only partially exaggerated. He was jealous of Koshiro, but he understood perfectly well that Golden Spin wasn’t half as important as JGPF, and it was Koshiro’s JGPF debut on top of that. He couldn’t help but be jealous that Koshiro would be the one getting proud words and focused attention from Steph, though, while he skated programs nobody cared about at a small-time competition. But he’s still jealous, and obviously not sick anymore (which is thanks to Steph, he’s never backing down on that). 

He’s still jealous, of course he is. Koshiro is going to have Stéphane on Christmas. Damn Japanese nationals.  

Stéphane kisses Deniss’s forehead softly, lips lingering. “I’m sorry you were jealous, baby boy,” Stéphane murmurs against his skin, and Deniss feels like melting. “It really was important for me to be in Vancouver, but I wish I could have been taking care of you.” He slides his hand up under Deniss’s too-large shirt and keeps rubbing. 

The shirt is actually probably Steph’s, Deniss realizes. He giggles suddenly and then stops. 

“Hm?” Stéphane traces his fingers over Deniss’s abdomen. “That’s funny to you, mon cher?” 

Deniss shakes his head and blushes. “No, no, it’s just that- it's your shirt. This one is, I mean. And I didn’t realize it. I thought it was mine and... just makes me happy, I guess.” He blushes redder and ducks his head.  _What a dumb thing to say._  

“Ah,” Stéphane says softly, and nuzzles his nose into Deniss’s hair, “That makes me happy too, darling.”  

Deniss smiles, but tears are building and he coughs around the sudden lump in his throat. “When’s the latest I can leave for my flight?” he manages to get out, barely above a whisper. 

Stéphane sighs; it ruffles Deniss’s hair slightly. He splays his hands wide on Deniss’s stomach; one over, one under his shirt. Warmth seeps through his belly as Stéphane says, “Two-- wait, no, three hours,” but it doesn’t help him feel any better. 

“Can’t you come with me?” Deniss asks, “I mean, I- I know you can’t, sorry. I know that, it’s just...” He blushes again.  _It’s just that I basically don’t know how to live without you around anymore._  

Stéphane presses his lips into Deniss’s forehead. “No, mon coeur, I’m afraid not,” he responds resignedly, “Koshiro... well, you know. But it’ll be good for you to see your parents; you don’t see them enough. You can have a nice Christmas with them and I’ll see you the day after. Oui?” 

“Non, pas ‘oui,’” Deniss mutters hoarsely, and buries his face into Stéphane’s neck again. 

“Hey, baby boy, shhh... It’s okay.” Steph rocks him gently and sighs, “Everything’s going to be fine, just you wait.” 

Deniss snuggles closer and doesn’t respond. 

On the ride to the airport, he feels more and more dazed. He doesn’t remember much of the actual place itself except that it was cold and vaguely dank, and he definitely doesn’t remember what the artwork looked like or his gate number or anything like that. 

What he does remember clearly is Stéphane saying “See you on the 26th, alright?” and gripping the back of his neck tightly for a few seconds before wrapping him up in his arms. They stayed that way for longer than was probably advisable, but Deniss couldn’t let go and it seemed like Steph didn’t want to either. He’s pretty sure Chris gave him a hug too (though not half as long), and Koshiro was there for moral support, but he wasn’t really paying any attention to them. 

He just sleeps on the plane. He could have watched a movie, and he brought a book too. But the movies aren’t thoughtful enough to interest him, and the book was a recommendation from Steph, which means that he can’t read it without noticing everything in it that he knows Steph knew he would like.  

And he’s really trying not to think about Steph right now any more than he has to, because he’s alone now. That's bad. It's very bad. But there's really nothing he can do about it at the moment. So, he just sleeps.

**Author's Note:**

> French Definitions:
> 
> Je t'aime - I love you
> 
> Je t'aime aussi - I love you too
> 
> Mon cher - My dear
> 
> Mon coeur - My heart
> 
> Non, pas 'oui' - No, not 'okay'
> 
> S'il vous plaît - Please
> 
> Yes, I swear there will be a happy ending. It'll be incredibly drippy and sappy and there will be cookies and fluff and many good things.


End file.
